Brother's Keeper
by Boscosbabe55
Summary: On what would be Mikey's 34th birthday Bosco reflects on whether he was a good brother or not.


**Title:** Brothers' Keeper

**Author:** Fyre

**Rating:** pg-13 (The F Bomb is used here and there)

**E-mail:**  
**Summary:** "Mikey would have been 34-years-old today"

**Feedback:** Yes, be kind and gentle.

**Spoilers:** If you've seen season six then you have nothing to worry about.   
**Characters:** Faith, Bosco, Rose, and Mikey is mentioned.

**Word Count:** 4,430

**Genre:** Angst

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any of them sadly.  
**A/N:** I was hesitant to post this story. Mostly because I doubt there will be anyone interested in reading this kind of fic. There are no baybeeeessss being made. But a friend asked if I would so yeah…

**A/N 2:** I got the idea for this while I was at the ice rink. I was skating around and bam, the idea came to me. Thank you Dem and Stella for all your support. You guys

Leaning against the RMP Bosco stared at the faded picture in his hands. Its edges were creased and torn, and the white parts had become more yellow than white. The recent warm weather was bringing out the best in the fine citizens of New York. It never seemed to fail, that every time it started warming up, people started to become restless. While the temperature went up; the stupidly and murder rate followed.

"Bosco!" Faith called out to him.

He looked up at her for a moment and looked back down at the picture running his fingers over the two faces smiling back at him. Sighing he took a few steps away from the RMP and shoved the picture into his back pocket. He thought riding with Faith while she did her detective stuff would be fun for him, that maybe he would learn actually something. Except it was the complete opposite. He stood back while she chatted with potential witnesses, took pictures, and discussed things with the Crime Scene guys. While he looked like a jackass and did nothing. She was a woman on a mission and he didn't want to get in the way.

"Yeah?" He dragged his feet and eventually made his way over to Faith.

"You remember Butler?" She gestured towards a taller a man, about there age. He was starting to go bald and had a few gray hairs sticking up.

"Hey." Bosco extended his hand to shake the other mans hand.

"So I hear you're doin' time in Bed-Stuy; how is that treatin' you?"

Bosco shrugged. He really wasn't in the mood for small talk with someone he hadn't seen since his days in the P.A. "It's goin'." By the look of the single gold bars attached to Butler's shirt collar, he was having a much better life wherever he was. "You seem to be doin' pretty good." He pointed his finger at the gold bars.

Butler couldn't help but smile. "Oh those, yeah," he nodded. "The 2-7 is great! I love it there." He acted like he forgot about the gold bars, but Bosco could tell Butler was fully aware of what was pinned to his shirt collar.

"Lieutenant!" Faith patted his back. "Mark Butler a lieutenant, who would have thought?"

"Whose knob did you haveta polish to get that one?" Bosco quipped.

"Bosco!" Faith blushed with embarrassment and turned towards Butler. "You'll have to excuse Bosco. He still hasn't learned to think before he speaks."

Butler laughed Bosco's snide comment off. "Nah its okay Yokas," he pulled his hand out of his pocket and patted the gold bar. "I owe this all to Mrs. Butler she had been pressurin' me to take the test for a while. With my score on the test, an' a drug ring I helped bust up I had no problems getting' a job here."

"Well that's good man. Glad you're happy." Okay he really didn't give a shit either way. Truth was he was just putting on a show. Butler was a jag-off, always had been, and always would be. Whatever woman married him must have been pretty desperate or hard off to want to spend her life with Butler.

"So you have any kids?" Faith asked trying to keep the conversation going.

"Yeah, a son; he'll be seven this August."

Bosco shoved his hands deep into his pants pocket. Apparently in the 16 some years since they graduated from the P.A Butler had managed to find his johnson and produce and mini Butler; just what the world needed.

"He's a chip off the ol' block jus' like his old man."

Bosco struggled not to laugh; the kid didn't have a great prospect for life if he was like his old man. "That's good, real good." As long as he stood there, he would keep feeding Butler the lies he knew he wanted to hear. "We almost done here?" he asked, turning towards Faith. "I'm hungry."

Faith let out an annoyed sigh and rolled her eyes. "When aren't you hungry Bosco?" she replied.

"Whatever," he replied. "I'll meet you at the RMP." He walked off without saying goodbye to Butler.

"What is his problem?" Butler questioned Faith.

"What isn't his problem? He has a ten foot pole stuck up his ass." She watched as her former partner climbed into the passenger seat of the car.

"I heard he was havin' some serious vision problems afta that shootin' at Mercy."

"He was havin' some issues there for a while. It has seemed to have passed over now." She knew she had betrayed Bosco when she ratted him out about his sight to Swersky. Faith had no choice though, she was worried about him, she was worried about his safety, and the safety of others. It took some time, it took a long time; but now they were finally talking again.

"His attitude hasn't changed much since the P.A; in fact it may have become worse."

"That's jus' his famous Maurice Boscorelli charm." The past two years had been rough for Bosco; Faith knew it. She didn't blame the guy for being the way he was. Had she found out her father was responsible for the death of her brother and her being shot, she would be pretty fucked in the head herself.

"Is it true?" Butler questioned Faith. "That his father was behind the shootin'?"

"The bastard was also behind the death of his brother," she replied just as Bosco honked the car horn and rolled the window down.

"YOU JUS' GOIN' TO STAND THERE AN' TALK ALL DAY?" He yelled out of the window.

Faith shook her head. "I better get goin'. Sponge Bob Crabby Pants is hungry." She shook Butler's hand. "It was great seein' you 'gain. You take carea yourself huh?"

"You too." He let go of her hand and dropped his hand to the side.

Walking back to the RMP, she slid into the drivers' seat. "You wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?" she commented as she slowly drove off.

"I'm hungry. When I'm hungry I get moody. I won't be moody afta I've eaten."

"You must be hungry an awful lot then."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Bosco stared at her.

"Nothin'..never mind Bosco." She pulled off the dirt road they had driven down and back on to the highway. "You know you're the one who asked if you could ride with me. You were the one who wanted to learn somethin'. So don' get all bitchy when you haveta do somethin'."

Bosco stared out the window ignoring Faith's comment.

"What's with you today Bosco? You're in a real foul mood, more so then usual."

"Whatever, can we jus' go an' get somethin' to eat?" he hissed through clenched teeth.

Faith pulled the RMP over and put it into park on the side of the road. "No. No not until you tell me what the fuck is your problem?"

"My problem is you aren't drivin'. You could be drivin' but you aren't. Instead you're parked here on the side of the fuckin' road tryin' to shrink me."

"I'm tryin' to get you to talk Bosco. I want to know why you have been in such a shitty mood."

"I'm hungry that's why," he snapped back.

"No you were an ass afta you had breakfast, so it's more then bein' hungry. Now what the hell is your problem Bosco." Faith looked at him.

"Don' talk to me like I'm one'a your kids. I'm not."

"No you aren't, my kids answer me," she retorted. She turned the engine off and stared at him. "I'm not movin' until you talk."

Bosco don't budge an inch, his eyes were fixated on everything that was outside of the car.

"Boz..." Faith spoke softly. "Please."

The awkward silence filled the RMP for a few more minuets when he finally spoke up. "He would'a been 34-years-old today Faith."

She was confused. "Who are you talkin' 'bout Bosco."

Biting down on his bottom lip, and fighting to control his emotions. "Mikey. He would'a been 34-years-old today."

"Bosco." She wasn't sure what to say. He hadn't talked much about Mikey since his death, at least not to her. She wasn't sure if he talked about it with his mother, or how he dealt with it behind closed door.

"Thirty-four-years old. Now though, now he's dead an' there is nothin' I can do."

"Bosco."

"I'm his brother Faith, his big brother. I'm… I should' a protected him, instead I let him down."

"Bosco, no you didn't."

"I failed him, I gave up on him."

"Bosco you did the best you could. He had problems."

He turned to Faith and looked at her right in the eyes. "Yeah I know, an' I should' a done a lot more to help him. I should'a done everythin' I could to get him help. Instead I gave up, I quit. I did the one thing everyone else did to him. I'm no better then them." His fists were clenched tightly. "I should' a protected him from the ol' man, it was my job Faith."

Faith just sat and let Bosco vent, it was probably the best thing for him at the moment.

"I promised him when we were kids that no matter what happened we would always have each other. I lied to him I broke my end of the deal. What kinda person does that? I mean." he paused. "I'm no better then some of the skels we pick up. Fuck it, I'm worse then them. I turned my back on my own family. I let Mikey down, I let my ma down, an' I let myself down." He closed his eyes for a moment. "I killed my brother. I was the one who killed him. Maybe not directly, but indirectly I'm responsible for his death."

"No Bosco, no you aren't. Anthony killed him, you didn't; directly or indirectly." She put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't do this Bosco, don' blame yourself for this. It's not what Mikey would have wanted."

Bosco was doing everything he could to keep himself from totally breaking down in front of Faith. "I don' know that. I don' know what Mikey would want, I stopped bein' his brother a long time ago. When I became a coward an' quit." Turning his face towards the window he wiped a tear away. "I shouldn't be here."

Faith raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I shouldn't be alive Faith, I don' deserve life. Not afta what I did to Mikey, not afta I let him down like that. I should'a died that day, I deserved to die. Me...not Mikey."

"No you didn't Bosco. Don' say that, okay? You hear me don' say that. What 'bout your mother? Huh? What would she think? She loves you."

"I failed her as a son Faith. How the hell can she love me? I didn't protect Mikey, I wasn't there for him, an' I let her down." A few more tears fell and by now Bosco was just too tired to try and fight them. "I always thought he was the bad one. When in reality it was me. He didn't give up on us, I gave up on us. He was more of a man then I will ever be. Mikey kept fightin', he kept tryin'. Me I was a coward, things got too hard an' I quit. I quit before I even gave him a chance."

"Listen Bosco-"

Before she had a chance to finish he cut her off. "Can we jus' go; please?" He hissed, he was beginning to get annoyed.

Taking a deep breath and exhaling loudly Faith nodded and turned the car back on, then pulled back into traffic. She said nothing and remained silent as they drove to the small diner they agreed on going to earlier that day.

Bosco unhooked his seatbelt and climbed out of the car and pushed his way into the diner and over to the counter. He sat down on a stool and grabbed the menu. In all honesty he wasn't hungry any more, but if he said something to Faith she would start mothering him again. He couldn't handle her mothering right now. He wanted nothing to do with her mothering. It was something that pissed him off, and she did it all the time.

"So what are you gunna order?" Faith closed the menu and returned it to its spot along side the bowl that held packets of sugar.

"I guess a BLT with fries. You?"

"The mushroom cheeseburger looks pretty good right 'bout now."

Bosco only nodded in reply. "You mind droppin' me off at home afta this? I'm...I jus' need to get some sleep."

She nodded. It was best not to argue with Bosco when he was in one of his moods. "Sure no problem Boz."

Faith spent the remainder of the meal watching as Bosco idly picked at his BLT and had maybe four fries before declaring himself full.

"So uhm you 'bout done?" He looked over at her empty plate. "So we can get outta here?"

"Yeah." She put some money down on top of the cash Bosco had laid out. "Keep the change." She smiled at the waitress. Grabbing her coat she followed behind him.

Bosco sat silent with a blank expression across his face as Faith pulled away from the diner and drove towards his apartment. She wanted to make him talk, she wanted to get him to open up to her. It was useless though, in the 16 years she had known Bosco she knew not to press him about stuff like this. He would end up blowing up and the end result would probably be them not talking.again.

She made a right and merged with the traffic when she realized what road she was traveling down. 'Way to go Faith. Good one. This was the last thin' Bosco needed.' She was mentally kicking herself when she realized they would soon be driving past the cemetery when his brother was buried.

"Stop the car," Bosco spoke up.

"What?" Faith turned to him.

"Stop the fuckin' car!" He yelled once more. "Now!"

The wheels of the dark red RMP came to a screeching halt. "What the hell is your problem?" But her question was useless as Bosco was already gone, running through traffic nearly causing a dozen wrecks, then off through the cemetery.

Faith turned on the lights and spun the RMP around, driving right into the cemetery and towards the spot where she last saw Bosco running to. She had an idea of where he was going so she knew finding him wasn't going be hard.

Bosco fell to his knees in front of a grave stone. Catching his breath he ran his fingers over the words etched deeply into the marble. 'Michael Lee Boscorelli April 17th 1972 - April 30th 2004. Beloved Son and Brother' "I'm sorry Mike." Tears rolled down his cheeks as he rested his hand on his brother name. "I'm so sorry."

Faith parked the RMP about 50 feet away and sat watching Bosco. She knew it wasn't her business or her place to intrude on him at this moment.

"I was your big brother an' I was supposed to protect you. I didn't Mike, I failed an', I let you down, I didn't do the one thin' I should'a done. I'm so sorry Mike."

He had been there a while, rain was starting to fall and his knee ached like hell, but he didn't move he stayed in front of his brother's grave. "I tol' you it would always be us, that no matter what happened we would always have each other. I lied to you Mikey an' God believe me I'm so sorry. I should be the one here it should be my name on this grave an' not yours." He was about to say something else when he heard a voice.

"Maurice."

Bosco turned and saw his mother standing behind him. In one hand was a bouquet of flowers, and in her other hand was an umbrella. "Ma what are you doin' here?" Suddenly he felt stupid for asking her that question. She was probably doing the same thing he was doing.

"Maurice, are you okay?" She asked in a motherly voice.

"I'm.I'm fine ma." He dried his tears. "It's rainin' ma."

"I know Maurice. I came here to talk to your brother an' my parents."

"You parents?" Bosco quickly asked.

"Your grandparents, they're buried here too you know?"

"Oh yeah, right, Grandpa Maurice an' Nana Teresa." He nodded shoving his hands deep into his now soaking wet pockets.

"Maurice." Rose walked up to her son, and held the umbrella over them. "Michael loved you very much, he looked up to you."

"Yeah that was until I failed him, an' let him down."

She placed the flowers along side Mikey's grave then looked at her son and pushed some of his wet hair that had fallen away from his eyes. "What do you mean by that Maurice?"

He turned away from his mother for a moment. "Mikey still be here if I would have been a better big brother to him. You know, if I wouldn't have given up so easily."

"Maurice you said you gave up?" She knew her son often beat himself up over stuff, but this was something he didn't need to be beating himself up for.

"Mikey's dead ain't he?" Bosco looked right into his mother's eyes. "He's dead 'cause I stopped carin' 'cause I stopped bein' his big brother. Things became too much, to hard to deal with, so I quit. Now.now Mike is dead an' I can't brin' him back. I can't fix it. I could'a prevented all this but I didn't."

"Maurice." Rose grabbed his chin. "You listen to me. You were a good brother, a very good brother an' you are a great son. Michael didn't die 'cause of you. Your bastard father killed him. This was Anthony's fault."

Bosco let his head fall. "How did I not know ma? How could'a I have missed this ma? The fuckin' bastard wanted to turn Mikey in, 'cause he owed people money. That right there should have been a clue."

"He was your father."

"Oh really, is that so? Since when ma? What fatherly thin' has that jag-off ever done for me?" Bosco smirked.

"He was your father an' you didn't want to believe, you didn't think it was possible."

"He was a jag-off ma. He was a jag-off who would use you as his personal punchin' bag. He was no good. I should 'a known that he was fully capable of killin' someone, killin' his own fuckin' son, killin' my brother." He ran a hand through his wet hair and spat in anger, "Now."

"Now he is payin' for his crime Maurice. Now the system will take care of him."

Bosco snorted. "Some system, the jag-off gets a cot an' three squares a day meanwhile you're left with a broken heart. I'm left once 'gain to pick up afta him, clean up his mistakes." He closed his eyes for a few moments then slowly opened them as he looked up into the gray dismal sky. "I almost died 'cause of him."

He turned and looked at his mother. If the past two years have been this hard on him, he couldn't imagine the pain his own mother was going through. "He almost had you killed." There was a pause before he spoke again. "He killed his son, almost killed me an' almost killed you. For this he has no remorse, he's not even sorry. What kinda sick sonofabitch is he?"

With her free hand Rose reached for her son's hand and gave it a tight squeeze. "None of that was your fault. You didn't make this happen. Your father...he was a bad man an' it took too long for me to see it."

Bosco squeezed his mothers hand back. "The way he hurt you ma, the things he did to you. He should rot in hell, not in jail. Jail is too good for that bastard." He let his eyes fall towards Mikey's headstone. "What kind of man kills his own son? What makes someone do that?" He had seen plenty of sick shit in his life as a cop, but he had yet to understand and grab the concept of why a man would hurt his own family.

He had yet to release the grip of his mother's hand. He needed his mother and he always would, even if she did tend to annoy him sometimes. Bosco just simply couldn't imagine life without his mother, nor did he want too. "You think I'll be like him? You think when I get married an' have kids that I will beat my family?"

"Maurice." Rose looked up at her son and she held his hand tighter. "You are nothin' like him. You are a good person an' when the time comes you'll be a loving husband and father. You will, you'll see. You shouldn't beat yourself up like this. You are nothin' like your father, you hear me. Nothin' like him an', you will never ever be like your father."

He only hoped this was true. He needed it to be true. His greatest fear was that he would turn out to be like his father, follow in his footsteps and hurt his own family.

"I love you very much Maurice." Rose spoke softly.

"I know ma, I love you too." He turned and looked at her. The umbrella really hadn't worked and she was soaking wet. "Faith is over there." He looked towards the RMP. "Why don' you o sit in the car an' dry off. She'll give you a ride home. You don' need to be out in this weather."

She was getting chilled. "What 'bout you?" She questioned him.

"I'll be there in a minuet. I promise." Bosco kissed her cheek. "Go, you're freezin' ma."

She paused and then kissed his cheek. "Don' stay out here too long, you'll catch your death of cold."

"I'm okay.I'll be fine ma." Bosco couldn't help but smile.

She still had yet to budge. "Maurice."

"Yeah ma?"

"You were a great brother. Mikey looked up to you, you meant a lot to him. He never thought you gave up on him, he knew you still cared. He knew."

"What about now?" He gazed at the rain soaked marble headstone. "You think he still feels that way now?"

"I know he does Maurice." Rose didn't want to let go of his hand. He was her baby and he needed her. "Please jus' trust me on this Maurice."

Bosco looked into his mothers pleading eyes. "I do, I trust you ma." Again he kissed her cheek and then wrapped his arms around her. "Now go sit in the car with Faith, you're drenched."

She gave his hand one last good squeeze and headed off towards the car. It was Michaels birthday and she did want to "talk to him", but for now she knew her oldest son needed this time much more then she did.

Bosco watched over his shoulder as his mother got into the RMP and closed the door. He was pretty sure the coast was clear now. "I promise you Mike, I'm not gunna let dad get away with this. I promise you I'm not gunna let other peoples families be hurt an' torn apart by what we went through." He took a deep breath. "An' I promise you Mike, God as my witness I'm not goin' to give up on people with a drug problem anymore. I'm gunna make sure they get help an' I'm gunna do somethin'. You shouldn't have died an' I should've helped you before it was too late." The tears started falling again. "This time Mikey I won't let you down I promise you I will not let you down. I'm gunna be the big brother I should'a been. You'll see Mike."

The familiar sound of the car horn made him snap his head around. He could see Faith waving her hand out of the window. "Guess Faith wants to go. So uhm..yeah I guess I'll be seein' you Mike. Do me a favor, keep an eye on ma when I can't.okay? You can see everythin' up there, so keep an eye on her." He turned and started towards the RMP, but stopped, turning back to the tombstone. "Oh yeah, one more thing. I love you Mike."

THREE WEEKS LATER.

Bosco looked at his lieutenant and gave him a nervous smile.

"So goin' narcotics is what you want?" The older man peered at Bosco.

"Yes sir, I definitely want this." He adjusted his gun belt and sat down.

"Why?" He asked.

"Someone needs to do it." Bosco really didn't want to explain the real reason to him but if he was going to get this job he would have to. "Lieutenant Szatowski, sir." He was nervous. "My brother hadda drug problem, a real bad one an' eventually the drugs won," he spoke. "I promised my brother that I would protect him, I didn't. If I join narcotics I can keep other kids like my brother from dyin' an' it makes me know his death wasn't in vain."

The man nodded and looked at Bosco. "This is what you want? You won't be comin' to my office a few months later askin' to come back?"

"Yes sir, this is what I want. Or would like."

"You're a good cop, bit of an attitude problem." He let out a chuckle, "but over all you're a good cop."

"Thank you sir, that means a lot to me. I love the job, an' there is nothin' else I wouldn't want to do."

"You're a good cop an' you'll make a great addition to the narcotics team. So I'll talk to Lieutenant Conner an' he'll let you know when you can start, but my guess is sometime next week."

Bosco smiled. "Thank you sir." He extended his hand and shook his lieutenants.

"Don' make me regret this decision."

"No sir I won't. I promise." He stood up. "Again thank you."

"Now get back out there, your still one of my men until next week an' I need you out there."

"Yes sir." Bosco gave him one last nod and exited his office. "I'm gunna make you proud Mikey an' this time I'm not gunna let you down."


End file.
